Slow Dancing- Troy Otto

1

  Scarlett had stolen the clothes of a young female soldier guarding her neighborhood, now treading on foot to find her mother at some ranch she had given her a flier for just a year before things had went bad.

~ flashback

  "You should come with me honey.." Tanya had said to her daughter.

"Mom, I just turned twenty one, I want to hang out with friends. I want to party, I don't want to be cooped up at some farm with smelly animals and strangers." Scarlett says grimacing at the thought.

"It's— I can't make you." Tanya says disappointed. "I hope you come when the world ends, you'll be safe. I love you." Tanya says gravely, preparing to leave her only child behind.

"Yeah okay, love you too kooky." Scarlett responds jokingly, unbeknownst to her, her mother wasn't lying.

  ~ end flashback

  Scarlett treaded through the desert cursing herself for not finding a change of clothes months ago. She had accustomed herself to killing the dead over the course of these last few months she'd been traveling alone. The militia took her boyfriend of four years claiming he was sick and needed treatment but he'd never returned, having to leave him behind once the bombings started was the hardest thing Scarlett had to do yet, killing the unrecognizable corpses stumbling amongst her was no big deal. Her mother had trained her for this very day even if Scarlett thought it was just some funny joke.

  Her water supply quickly diminished, relying on the last can of fruit to get her across the hot desert beating down on her.

"Don't move." A voice called out from her left startling her as her movements seize.

"I-I mean no trouble, I'm looking for my mother." She says shakily.

"Where are you headed?" The voice asks her approaching her front so she can see him clearly, a young man, a civilian.

"Broke jaw ranch? My mom should be there." She says, her trust in strangers a habit from her life of party.

"What's your name?" He asks a little bit softer.

"Scarlett.. Scarlett Young.." she responds nervously.

  The man's gun lowers, a relieved sigh falling from his lips as he does so.

"Tanya is your mother?" He asks looking up at her.

"Yes! You know her? Are you from the ranch?" She asks hastily.

"Yes, she's a wonderful member at the ranch, I'm Jake Otto. My father is one of the founding fathers of the place." He says holding out a hand for her to shake. She hesitantly takes his hand offering a small smile upon her dry lips, shaking firmly before pulling away.

  The pair start heading to his vehicle, climbing in so they can head off to safety net her mother had begged her to escape to a year and some months ago.

"So.. are you military?" Jake asks the girl.

"Uh- no. I do have combat and knife training though, my mom made me take classes to prepare for this, even though I didn't believe." She says reluctantly.

"I see. Not everyone did, even some people that joined before the fall just wanted to live without paying rent." Jake jokes.

"That's awful. I can pull my weight though, I promise." She tells him honestly.

"I believe you, have you been alone this whole time?" He asks referring to the time period of when it all started until now.

"Unfortunately.." she says sadly.